Strip packaging of single and multiple unit dose medications comprises a large and growing means of packaging medications for dispensing. Currently widely used in the hospital and managed care industries, strip packaging is now entering the general pharmacy and home care areas. For institutions it has the advantages of low cost and the potential for automated dispensing. As currently formulated it poses problems in pharmacy and home care applications.
Strip packaged medication typically comprises a cellulose or polymer sheet that is folded over on itself and sealed to capture either a single medication dose or multiple doses in a unit dose medication packet. At the time of dosing the patient tears the pouch open and takes the medication. Organizing multiple medication doses in a single packet has significant implications for patient compliance.
Three problems are associated with strip packaged medication:                1) patient compliance with strip packaged medication is problematic        2) strip packaged medication is poorly suited to automated dispensing, and        3) strip packaged medication is not child resistant (CR).        
Medications comprise a costly component of health care. To optimize their effectiveness they are required to be taken at specific intervals based on their pharmacokinetics. It is widely accepted that patients are poorly compliant with their prescriptions and that lack of compliance results in enormous costs to health care systems. Various prior solutions (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,113,101; 7,178,417; 6,628,199; 6,244,462; 7,170,409; 6,616,035; 7,616,116; 7,772,974; Can. Pat. No. 2,816,103, and others) have described means of determining patient compliance electronically, but these have focused on medication dispensed in blister packages. Other prior art (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,751,661; 6,324,123; 6,707763; 7,408,843) teaches compliance monitoring for medications packaged in vials and bottles.
Strip packaging of single and multiple unit dose medications comprises a large and growing means of packaging medications for dispensing. Strip packaging offers low cost, convenience to the patient and flexibility. Strip packaged medication comprises a cellophane or polymer sheet that is folded over on itself and sealed to capture either a single medication dose or multiple doses of similar or dissimilar medications in a unit dose medication packet. Patient and dosing information is printed on the packets, which form continuous replicates of any length depending on the application. The replicate may or may not be inserted in a paperboard container to facilitate inventory control, automated dispensing and convenience to the user. Replicates may also have perforations between packets to facilitate removal. At the time of dosing the patient tears off the distal packet, opens the packet, and takes the medication contained therein.
Currently widely used in hospitals and managed care facilities, strip packaging is now entering the general pharmacy and home care areas. For institutions it has the advantages of low cost and the potential for automated dispensing as the size of the dispenser is of little consequence. In these environments large, bulky replicates are the norm. However, for general pharmacy and home care applications there are a number of problems.
As is widely taught for other medication formats such as blister packages and vials, patient compliance with recommended dosing regimens is poor. It is desirable to know about poor compliance so it can be remediated. When used in general pharmacy and home care applications compliance is also problematic with strip packaged medication.
Patient compliance is problematic for strip packaged medication as with other (e.g. vial, blister package) dispensing formats. There is currently no means available to capture patient compliance with strip packaged medication. This is in large part due to the materials used (typically very thin, cheap, flimsy polymer or cellophane) and the form factor (long and thin).
There is a need for a means of capturing patient compliance with strip-packaged medication.
There is also a trend toward automated and robotic dispensing of medications driven by economics and the high incidence of medication errors where drugs are dispensed manually. Automated dispensing of strip packaged medication is not a problem in large institutions as space is not critical. The current generation of robotic dispensers for strip packaged medications is large and bulky to accommodate the bulk of strip packaged medications.
There is a need for a format for strip packaged medication that lends itself to compact machines for automated dispensing for general pharmacy, and to facilitate patient use, as the long, thin shape of the format does not readily lend itself to compacting by rolling or fan folding.
Hospitals and managed care facilities are not required to have child resistant (CR) packaging, something that is mandated for general pharmacy, home care and clinical trials. Current strip packaged medication does not meet CR specifications, creating a barrier to its more widespread use.
There is a need for a CR function in association with strip packaged medication